The *true* Iran:

My view of Iran had always only been what the media portrayed. I honestly had no idea that it looked like it does in these photos. Some of them are actually beautiful (the scenery and the women): http://www.irandefence.net/showthread.php?t=32

For an interesting perspective on modern Iran, I recommend In the Rose Garden of the Martyrs, written by a resident British journalist married to a Persian wife. A quite interesting book-which shows the deep wounds in Iran today from their horrific wars with Iraq. It's not a rosy picture at all, but it is an interesting one.

Well, when the media is run by corporate supporters of the NeoCon War Machine, naturally the images you would see would invoke certains views of a nation/culture in order for the masses to latch onto the latest enemy du jour.
I really like some of these shots, they give a lot of different perspective than what one in America would see by tuning in the TV.

Thanks for the post.

You get all squeezed up inside/Like the days were carved in stone/You get all wired up inside/And it's bad to be alone

You can go out, you can take a ride/And when you get out on your own/You get all smoothed out inside/And it's good to be alone
-Peart

Yeah, I think it only goes to show that Iran and America have something else in common: most shutterbugs are male and so are most computer geeks.

I have seen some of those pictures before and thought about posting links to them some months ago but figured it would be taken as "inflammatory" coming from me. Here is a gallery of photos from Iran (and lots of them are pretty girls): http://community.webshots.com/album/190742475WaDrIe If I recall correctly: I think some of the photos here are the same as in the thread jread linked to.

FWIW: I have been told that the law in Iran requires women to wear the full head and throat covering ("hijab"), but most women wear just a scarf covering part of their hair, like this woman. They are also required to wear a covering of their clothing when in public which is supposed to go to ankle and wrist but "gets shorter every year" (or so I am told).

I have seen views of Tehran which are plainer -- construction, smaller buildings which are less stylish, etc. As others have noted: like any western city, it has its breathtaking parts and its more ordinary parts. I have also seen pictures of "ordinary" women and, no, they are not all drop-dead gorgeous. I think that reflects the personal preference/bias of the individual taking the photos.

It's always interesting to know what is really behind the media portrayal of places around the world... Througout the Dubai Ports controversy I don't think I saw a single image or heard a mention of the incredible economic changes in Dubai and the globalization of the city. And we'll certainly never see a picture of the stylish Tehran skyline on CNN... just covered up women in front of clay houses in the desert.

Who cares what it looks like? You need to pay more attention to the words coming of out Ahmadinejad's mouth. The guy is a crackpot who is going to start the next world war. Islam vs. the West. (If you hadn't noticed, it has already begun in many subtle and not-so-subtle ways.)

Who cares what it looks like? You need to pay more attention to the words coming of out Ahmadinejad's mouth. The guy is a crackpot who is going to start the next world war. Islam vs. the West. (If you hadn't noticed, it has already begun in many subtle and not-so-subtle ways.)

Yes, he speaks for all 70 million Iranians. Because of his words, we should obliterate the entire country!

Wow! Thanks for the thread jread. Much of the lavish architecture we see in the photos is no doubt, the fruit of Iran's oil wealth.

The women must get hot in the summer. Though they're mostly covered up, it seems like the modern look is to wear a tight fitting garment which lets them show off their figure, rather than a big black blanket type thing (a burka? ). And with this look, their scarves become almost as much an element of fashion as they do an emblem of religious tradition. Showing their faces and much of their hair, they wear the scarves the way you'd expect some wealthy 40-something Manhattan woman to look on a windy day. A lot of those photos are of glamourpusses, but I still think the average Iranian woman is a babe.

It's worth noting that the median age of the population in Iran is only 24! That's an awful lot of youth. If we get imperialist on their as*, they won't soon forget what we do to them.

Last edited by dobopoq; 17 Apr 2006 at 5:10 PM.

"The current American way of life is founded not just on motor transportation but on the religion of the motorcar, and the sacrifices that people are prepared to make for this religion stand outside the realm of rational criticism." -Lewis Mumford

The big black cloak in Iran is called a chador and it is compulsory to wear in public. Generally a woman will wear a normal scarf over her head, then through the chador on top of it all. In the years since the Ayatollah Khomeini's death some things have relaxed a little and it is possible to get away with wearing just the scarf and an abaya which looks somewhat like a judge's or choir robe over the clothing.

"He defended the cause of the poor and needy, and so all went well. Is that not what it means to know me?"Jeremiah 22:16